Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a major event that threatens to harm the organization,

its stakeholders, or the general public. Three elements are common to most definitions of crisis: (a) a threat to the organization, (b) the element of surprise, and (c) a short decision time.[1] Venette[2] argues that "crisis is a process of transformation where the old system can no longer be maintained." Therefore the fourth defining quality is the need for change. If change is not needed, the event could more accurately be described as a failure or incident. In contrast to risk management, which involves assessing potential threats and finding the best ways to avoid those threats, crisis management involves dealing with threats after they have occurred. It is a discipline within the broader context of management consisting of skills and techniques required to identify, assess, understand, and cope with a serious situation, especially from the moment it first occurs to the point that recovery procedures start.

Introduction
Crisis management consists of: Methods used to respond to both the reality and perception of crises. Establishing metrics to define what scenarios constitute a crisis and should consequently

trigger the necessary response mechanisms. Communication that occurs within the response phase of emergency management

scenarios. Crisis management methods of a business or an organization are called Crisis Management Plan. Crisis management is occasionally referred to as incident management, although several industry specialists such as Peter Power argue that the term crisis management is more accurate. [3] The credibility and reputation of organizations is heavily influenced by the perception of their responses during crisis situations. The organization and communication involved in responding to a crisis in a timely fashion makes for a challenge in businesses. There must be open and consistent communication throughout the hierarchy to contribute to a successful crisis communication process. The related terms emergency management and business continuity management focus respectively on the prompt but short lived "first aid" type of response (e.g. putting the fire out) and the longer term recovery and restoration phases (e.g. moving operations to another site). Crisis is

also a facet of risk management, although it is probably untrue to say that Crisis Management represents a failure of Risk Management since it will never be possible to totally mitigate the chances of catastrophes occurring. [edit]Types

of crisis

During the crisis management process, it is important to identify types of crises in that different crises necessitate the use of different crisis management strategies.[4] Potential crises are enormous, but crises can be clustered.[4] Lerbinger[5] categorized seven types of crises 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. [edit]Natural Natural disaster Technological crises Confrontation Malevolence Organizational Misdeeds Workplace Violence Rumours

crises

Natural crises, typically natural disasters considered as 'acts of God,' are such environmental phenomena as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and hurricanes, floods, landslides, tsunamis, storms, and droughts that threaten life, property, and the environment itself.[4][5] Example: 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (Tsunami) [edit]Technological

crises

Technological crises are caused by human application of science and technology. Technological accidents inevitably occur when technology becomes complex and coupled and something goes wrong in the system as a whole (Technological breakdowns). Some technological crises occur when human error causes disruptions (Human breakdowns[4]). People tend to assign blame for a technological disaster because technology is subject to human manipulation whereas they do not hold anyone responsible for natural disaster. When an accident creates significant environmental damage, the crisis is categorized as megadamage.[4] Samples include software failures, industrial accidents, and oil spills.[4][5] Examples: Chernobyl disaster, Exxon Valdez oil spill [edit]Confrontation

crises

Confrontation crises occur when discontented individuals and/or groups fight businesses, government, and various interest groups to win acceptance of their demands and expectations. The common type of confrontation crises is boycotts, and other types are picketing, sit-ins, ultimatums to those in authority, blockade or occupation of buildings, and resisting or disobeying police. Example: Rainbow/PUSHs (People United to Serve Humanity) boycott of Nike [edit]Crises

of malevolence

An organization faces a crisis of malevolence when opponents or miscreant individuals use criminal means or other extreme tactics for the purpose of expressing hostility or anger toward, or seeking gain from, a company, country, or economic system, perhaps with the aim of destabilizing or destroying it. Sample crises include product tampering, kidnapping, malicious rumors, terrorism, and espionage.[4][5] Example: 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders [edit]Crises

of organizational misdeeds

Crises occur when management takes actions it knows will harm or place stakeholders at risk for harm without adequate precautions.
[4]

Lerbinger[5] specified three different types of crises of organizational misdeeds:

crises of skewed management values, crises of deception, and crises of management misconduct. [edit]Crises of skewed management values Crises of skewed management values are caused when managers favor shortterm economic gain and neglect broader social values and stakeholders other than investors. This state of lopsided values is rooted in the classical business creed that focuses on the interests of stockholders and tends to view the interests of its other stakeholders such as customers, employees, and the community. Example: Sears sacrifices customer trust[clarification needed] [edit]Crises of deception Crises of deception occur when management conceals or misrepresents information about itself and its products in its dealing with consumers and others. Example: Dow Cornings silicone-gel breast implant

[edit]Crises of management misconduct Some crises are caused not only by skewed values and deception but deliberate amorality and illegality. [edit]Workplace

violence

Crises occur when an employee or former employee commits violence against other employees on organizational grounds. Example: DuPonts Lycra[clarification needed] [edit]Rumors False information about an organization or its products creates crises hurting the organizations reputation. Sample is linking the organization to radical groups or stories that their products are contaminated.[4] Example: Procter & Gamble's Logo controversy

Crisis Leadership Erika Hayes James, an organizational psychologist at the University of Virginias Darden Graduate School of Business, identifies two primary types of organizational crisis.[6] James defines organizational crisis as any emotionally charged situation that, once it becomes public, invites negative stakeholder reaction and thereby has the potential to threaten the financial well-being, reputation, or survival of the firm or some portion thereof. [7] 1. 2. Sudden crisis Smoldering crises
crises

[edit]Sudden

Sudden crises are circumstances that occur without warning and beyond an institutions control. Consequently, sudden crises are most often situations for which the institution and its leadership are not blamed.
[edit]Smoldering

crises

Smoldering crises differ from sudden crises in that they begin as minor internal issues that, due to managers negligence, develop to

crisis status. These are situations when leaders are blamed for the crisis and its subsequent effect on the institution in question. [8] James categorises five phases of crisis that require specific crisis leadership competencies.[8] Each phase contains an obstacle that a leader must overcome to improve the structure and operations of an organization. Jamess case study on crisis in the financial services sector, for example, explores why crisis events erode public trust in leadership. James's research demonstrates how leadership competencies of integrity, positive intent, capability, mutual respect, and transparency impact the trust-building process. [9] 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
[edit]Signal

Signal detection Preparation and prevention Containment and damage control Business recovery Learning
detection

Signal detection is the stage in a crisis in which leaders should, but do not always, sense early warning signals (red flags) that suggest the possibility of a crisis. The detection stages of a crisis include: Sense-making: represents an attempt to create order and make sense, retrospectively, of what occurs. Perspective-taking: the ability to consider another person's or group's point of view.
[edit]Preparation

and prevention

It is during this stage that crisis handlers begin preparing for or averting the crisis that had been foreshadowed in the signal detection stage. Organizations such as the Red Cross's primary mission is to prepare for and prevent the escalation of crisis events. Walmart has been described as an emergency relief standard bearer after having witnessed the incredibly speedy and well-coordinated effort to get supplies to the Gulf Coast of the United States in anticipation of Hurricane Katrina.
[edit]Containment

and damage control

Usually the most vivid stage, the goal of crisis containment and damage control is to limit the reputational, financial, safety, and other threats to firm survival. Crisis handlers work diligently during this stage to bring the crisis to an end as quickly as possible to limit the negative publicity to the organization, and move into the business recovery phase.
[edit]Business

recovery

When crisis hits, organizations must be able to carry on with their business in the midst of the crisis while simultaneously planning for how they will recover from the damage the crisis caused. Crisis handlers not only engage in continuity planning (determining the people, financial, and technology resources needed to keep the organization running), but will also actively pursue organizational resilience.
[edit]Learning

In the wake of a crisis, organizational decision makers adopt a learning orientation and use prior experience to develop new routines and behaviors that ultimately change the way the organization operates. The best leaders recognize this and are purposeful and skillful in finding the learning opportunities inherent in every crisis situation.
[edit]

Crisis leadership
James identifies six leadership competencies which facilitate organizational restructuring during and after a crisis. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Building an environment of trust Reforming the organizations mindset Identifying obvious and obscure vulnerabilities of the organization Making wise and rapid decisions as well as taking courageous action Learning from crisis to effect change.

Crisis leadership research concludes that leadership action in crisis reflects the competency of an organization, because the test of crisis demonstrates how well the institutions leadership structure serves the organizations goals and withstands crisis. [8] Developing effective human

resources is vital when building organizational capabilities through crisis management executive leadership.[13]

Examples of successful crisis management

[edit]Tylenol

(Johnson and Johnson)

In the fall of 1982, a murderer added 65 milligrams of cyanide to some Tylenol capsules on store shelves, killing seven people, including three in one family. Johnson & Johnson recalled and destroyed 31 million capsules at a cost of $100 million. The affable CEO, James Burke, appeared in television ads and at news conferences informing consumers of the company's actions. Tamper-resistant packaging was rapidly introduced, and Tylenol sales swiftly bounced back to near pre-crisis levels.[16] When another bottle of tainted Tylenol was discovered in a store, it took only a matter of minutes for the manufacturer to issue a nationwide warning that people should not use the medication in its capsule form.[17] [edit]Odwalla

Foods

When Odwalla's apple juice was thought to be the cause of an outbreak of E. coli infection, the company lost a third of its market value. In October 1996, an outbreak of E. coli bacteria in Washington state, California, Colorado and British Columbia was traced to unpasteurized apple juice manufactured by natural juice maker Odwalla Inc. Forty-nine cases were reported, including the death of a small child. Within 24 hours, Odwalla conferred with the FDA and Washington state health officials; established a schedule of daily press briefings; sent out press releases which announced the recall; expressed remorse, concern and apology, and took responsibility for anyone harmed by their products; detailed symptoms of E. coli poisoning; and explained what consumers should do with any affected products. Odwalla then developed - through the help of consultants - effective thermal processes that would not harm the products' flavors when production resumed. All of these steps were communicated through close relations with the media and through full-page newspaper ads. [edit]Mattel Mattel Inc., the toy maker, has been plagued with more than 28 product recalls and in Summer of 2007, amongst problems with exports from China, faced two product recall in two weeks. The company "did everything it could to get its message out, earning high marks from consumers and retailers. Though upset by the situation, they were appreciative of the company's response. At Mattel, just after the 7 a.m. recall announcement by federal officials, a public relations staff of 16 was set to call reporters at the 40 biggest media outlets. They told each to check their e-mail for a

news release outlining the recalls, invited them to a teleconference call with executives and scheduled TV appearances or phone conversations with Mattel's chief executive. The Mattel CEO Robert Eckert did 14 TV interviews on a Tuesday in August and about 20 calls with individual reporters. By the week's end, Mattel had responded to more than 300 media inquiries in the U.S. alone."[18] [edit]Pepsi The Pepsi Corporation faced a crisis in 1993 which started with claims of syringes being found in cans of diet Pepsi. Pepsi urged stores not to remove the product from shelves while it had the cans and the situation investigated. This led to an arrest, which Pepsi made public and then followed with their first video news release, showing the production process to demonstrate that such tampering was impossible within their factories. A second video news release displayed the man arrested. A third video news release showed surveillance from a convenience store where a woman was caught replicating the tampering incident. The company simultaneously publicly worked with the FDA during the crisis. The corporation was completely open with the public throughout, and every employee of Pepsi was kept aware of the details.[citation needed] This made public communications effective throughout the crisis. After the crisis had been resolved, the corporation ran a series of special campaigns designed to thank the public for standing by the corporation, along with coupons for further compensation. This case served as a design for how to handle other crisis situations.[19][citation needed] [edit]Examples [edit]Bhopal The Bhopal disaster in which poor communication before, during, and after the crisis cost thousands of lives, illustrates the importance of incorporating cross-cultural communication in crisis management plans. According to American Universitys Trade Environmental Database Case Studies (1997), local residents were not sure how to react to warnings of potential threats from the Union Carbide plant. Operating manuals printed only in English is an extreme example of mismanagement but indicative of systemic barriers to information diffusion. According to Union Carbides own chronology of the incident (2006), a day after the crisis Union Carbides upper management arrived in India but was unable to assist in the relief efforts because they were placed under house arrest by the Indian government. Symbolic intervention can be counter productive; a crisis management strategy can help upper management make more calculated decisions in how they should respond to disaster scenarios. The Bhopal incident illustrates the difficulty in consistently applying management standards to multi-national operations and the blame shifting that often results from the lack of a clear management plan.[20]

of unsuccessful crisis management

[edit]Ford

and Firestone Tire and Rubber Company

The Ford-Firestone Tire and Rubber Company dispute transpired in August 2000. In response to claims that their 15-inch Wilderness AT, radial ATX and ATX II tire treads were separating from the tire coreleading to grisly, spectacular crashesBridgestone/Firestone recalled 6.5 million tires. These tires were mostly used on the Ford Explorer, the world's top-selling sport utility vehicle (SUV).[21] The two companies committed three major blunders early on, say crisis experts. First, they blamed consumers for not inflating their tires properly. Then they blamed each other for faulty tires and faulty vehicle design. Then they said very little about what they were doing to solve a problem that had caused more than 100 deathsuntil they got called to Washington to testify before Congress.[22] [edit]Exxon On March 24, 1989, a tanker belonging to the Exxon Corporation ran aground in the Prince William Sound in Alaska. The Exxon Valdezspilled millions of gallons of crude oil into the waters off Valdez, killing thousands of fish, fowl, and sea otters. Hundreds of miles of coastline were polluted and salmon spawning runs disrupted; numerous fishermen, especially Native Americans, lost their livelihoods. Exxon, by contrast, did not react quickly in terms of dealing with the media and the public; the CEO, Lawrence Rawl, did not become an active part of the public relations effort and actually shunned public involvement; the company had neither a communication plan nor a communication team in place to handle the eventin fact, the company did not appoint a public relations manager to its management team until 1993, 4 years after the incident; Exxon established its media center in Valdez, a location too small and too remote to handle the onslaught of media attention; and the company acted defensively in its response to its publics, even laying blame, at times, on other groups such as the Coast Guard. These responses also happened within days of the incident.[23]

The importance of crisis management

Every organisation, no matter what size, should be thoroughly prepared for a time of crisis. The PR team should be fully aware of any possible dangers that they could potentially face if the inevitable were to happen. The occurrence of a crisis is not limited to any particular

reason and can happen from numerous possibilities depending on the organisations line of work and/or other external factors. Crisis management is an essential component of the public relations profession and when in practice, must be used as comprehensive and meticulous as possible. The benefits of good PR and crisis management can literally save lives, save money and save an organisation from devastation. Any organisation that isnt prepared for a crisis will be constantly at risk. Preparation is essential when dealing with any crisis, so a Crisis Communication Plan (CCP) should be an integral part of an organisations communication management and should be used as a clear and coherent way to limit any damage that an organisation might face. A CCP is important to determine which crises an organisation is likely to face and the possibility of each. To do this, a crisis inventory should be drawn up to demonstrate the risks involved and should rank each crisis as follows: 0 Impossible 1 Nearly possible 2 Remotely possible 3 Possible 4 More than possible; somewhat probably. It may have happened to competitors before. 5 Highly probable. May or may not have happened before, but warning signs are evident. Again, a rank for the potential damage a crisis could cause can be viewed as: No damage Not a serious consequence. Little damage Can be handled without much difficulty. Some damage Slight chance media will be involved. Significant damage But still not a major issue. Considerable damage Would definitely be a major media issue. Devastating Front page news. Could put company out of business. Thus, by determining these possible risks, the devastation they could cause and ensuring preparation and planning is carried-out beforehand, an organisation can reduce damage or, in fact, stop it from happening altogether.

A CCP should be well thought-out and systematically structured in step-by-step form and should detail everyone (stakeholders, publics, and media) and everything (pre-gathered information, key messages, control centre involved, equipment, supplies etc). It should state every detail of what to do in any likely event of a crisis and have reference to any key contacts that are involved. All of this must be done prior to a crisis and should be rehearsed frequently by all staff. From a PR point of view, there are various stages of a crisis. These are: Detection Before an issue develops into a crisis, there is time to do something about it. Good groundwork in advance by way of the CCP can help identify and deal with any issues before they grow. The detection stage is crucial to eradicate any possible crisis. Preparation If a problem begins to grow past the detection stage then it is vital that the tactics planned in the CCP come into play. A media management plan (MMP) should have been devised along with the CCP and ready to use if the issue grows. The MMP should have a list of all key media contacts and should identify which staff should talk to the media. The publics first reaction to a disaster is shock, which quickly turns to anger if an organisation is not seen to be taking action, so a quick response in any crisis is vital. Containment In the event of a crisis situation, it is imperative to contain the situation so to stop the publics and the medias imagination running wild with speculation. To do this, the MMP should be followed thoroughly to establish what the media need to help them cover the story accurately and comprehensively. It should be made as easy as possible for the media to gain any information they might want. This could mean background information, statistics and spokespeople. If the media want to talk to spokespersons, it is important that key people involved are at the focus of the crisis and ready to answer all questions as thorough as possible. In a two-way symmetrical model, if you will. If an organisation refuses to talk to the media, a news story will be made using the information they do have this could prove disastrous

if it is full of one-sided stories, lies or half-truths. The answers to media questions should go along the lines of:

We know and here is all the information.

We dont have all the information yet, but here is what we do know.

We have no idea but we will find out.

A spokesperson should never answer a question with a no comment or we cant tell you. If there is an answer that cannot be revealed the spokesperson must say we cant tell you because . A typical objective of crisis communications is to show the public you are doing your utmost to rectifying any problems relating to them. It is paramount your key messages support this, along with other issues such as the environment, property and money (if affected). Of course, depending on the situation, different issues may be affected. It is up to the PR team to make sure that the priority issues are being dealt with. It is also a point to note that other stakeholders of the organisation need to be aware of all the facts. Every organisation will have different stakeholders, so part of a crisis management plan would be tailored to them depending who are involved for that particular organisation. Recovery PR professionals should be constantly informing the media, public and other stakeholders what they are doing to turn everything back to normal. Information should be frequently relayed to all parties. Various PR tools can be used such as media relations, newsletters, websites, etc to ensure the message is delivered across various channels. Evaluation After the crisis has been fully dealt with, it is imperative to find out what was lost (and gained) through it all. Public opinion is important to establish how good an organisations reputation is and should be measured by way of other PR tools such as, focus groups, questionnaires, surveys etc. Not only this, the PR team can evaluate how effective the CCP was through the situation. They can find out what worked, what did not work, what could be improved and what else could have been done to make the plan more efficient. Why?

We repeatedly hear in the news about PR blunders, PR nightmares and PR gaffs. Truth is, nine times out of ten, if good PR was involved from the beginning, the blunder, nightmare and gaff would not have happened. To some people, PR is often seen as an inferior discipline in comparison with advertising and other marketing elements. What they fail to recognise, is that good PR, consistant communication and ethical practice can indeed enhance reputation, increase share price, and create a better understanding between an organisation and its publics.